dj bean

Final week an important one for Bruins

The fast-paced, hectic, bonkers, whatever-you-want-to-call-it 48-game schedule is nearly over as the NHL enters the final week of the regular season. This is a time usually reserved for very good teams resting their players, pretty good teams trying to secure a playoff spot, and not-so-good teams wondering what Central Scouting has been up to.

Yet as it relates to this season, the final week figures to be different. Take a look at the Bruins. They’re the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference and they’ve got plenty to figure out over this week. The questions that face the team have been pointed out, but will they be able to sort it all out between now and the start of the playoffs early next week?

Asked after Sunday’s win over the Panthers what the Bruins can hope to get out of the end the season’s last four games, Zdeno Chara replied, “Consistency and not having any setbacks.”

Those are both correct, but there’s more to it than that. The playoffs are a week away and right now there’s only one line you can confidently bet you’ll see, which is Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin. The rest of the offense – whether Claude Julien keeps Milan Lucic with David Krejci, whether Carl Soderberg ends up playing more center, whether Carl Soderberg even gets his NHL bearings, where Rich Peverley plays, etc. – is still up in the air. Getting lines that work and getting guys comfortable with one another before next week will be key for a team that entered Monday eighth in the Eastern Conference in goals per game (2.70). The same goes for determining defensive pairings beyond the top duo of Zdeno Chara with Dennis Seidenberg.

A lot of how this week plays out for the Bruins depends on how much they care about two things: rest and seeding. Should they feel they need to go all-out to make sure they get the second seed as opposed to the No. 4 seed, or should they try to strike a balance between giving guys nights off and establishing consistency in the lineup?

As of Monday, the No. 2 seed would play the Senators, while the No. 4 seed would get the Maple Leafs. Both of those teams are beatable for the Bruins, though the Maple Leafs would likely be the more desired opponent. The bottom of the playoff picture is tightly bunched, however, and teams like the Rangers and Islanders – both of whom could present a greater challenge than the Leafs – could end up getting that No. 7 seed. Home ice is great and you want to finish the regular season strong, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if giving guys like Chara and Seidenberg a game or two off resulted in the B’s getting the fourth seed.

While Chara says this week is about consistency on the ice and not having setbacks, the B’s should also hope to finish the week with the confidence that any line can and will score.

The Bruins can’t go out there this week and beat the Penguins and Canadiens, but they can still finish the season feeling good about their game. The B’s like the way they’ve played the last three games, and if they can control the remainder of their contests while establishing some consistency offensively, they should enter the postseason feeling as good as a team that’s played .500 hockey the last two months (14-10-3 since the beginning of March) could feel.

Common sense would suggest that winning would be the best way for the B’s to feel confident entering the playoffs, and given that they control their own destiny in the Northeast Division, winning out would also sew up the division. Yet the Bruins feel they’re playing better now than they were at some points of their more successful stretches.

“It’s been a lot better for sure,” Andrew Ference said of Boston’s recent play. “… I don’t know when exactly we did it, but we really turned a corner when you start not just focusing on the results, but you do focus on the product and how we were playing and working towards things and kind of have the bigger picture in mind of what we’re getting ready for and what we’re gearing up for. It’s going in the right direction for sure.”

If it’s going in the right direction, the Bruins should at least be able to keep it going for the beginning of the week. The Bruins will play four teams this week: the Flyers, the Lightning, the Capitals and the Senators. Though neither the Flyers nor the Lightning have anything to play for, Philadelphia has actually played well of late, winning three of its last four. The Lightning however, seem to be in a season-ending freefall and have lost six in a row (0-4-2).

The Senators and Capitals present a different story. Things may have changed by the time the B’s meet the Capitals on Saturday, but Washington (52 points) is trying to fend off the Jets (49 points) and hold onto the top seed in the Southeast division, as its crown is the difference between the No. 3 seed and one of the bottom playoff seeds. The Senators, whom the B’s will face to end the season on Sunday, will likely have their playoff seeding depend on the game’s outcome.

So that leaves the Bruins with two opponents that have something to play for and two who don’t, but they have a lot to figure out over the final four games, even if the results don’t make a critical difference.

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